An aerial view taken on April 12, 2022, shows the city of Mariupol, during Russia's special military operation on Ukraine. (ANDREY BORODULIN / AFP)
MOSCOW/KYIV – Russian and Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday that negotiations on a solution to the current crisis have been suspended as the process is mired in stalemate.
"The talks are not going on. Ukraine has actually withdrawn from the negotiation process," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told reporters.
Russia has received no response from Ukraine to its draft treaty, he added.
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held the latest round of face-to-face peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey on March 29
"Today the negotiation process was suspended. It was suspended because there are no significant changes or upheavals after the Istanbul communique," Mykhailo Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, was quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency as saying.
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Nevertheless, he voiced the belief that the peace talks will be resumed, emphasizing that "every war ends at the negotiating table."
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held the latest round of face-to-face peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey on March 29.
Russia expels 2 Finnish diplomats
Russia said Tuesday that it is expelling two diplomats of the Finnish Embassy in a retaliatory move.
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Finnish ambassador to Russia and protested against the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Finland as well as Helsinki's confrontational policy towards Moscow.
On April 8, Finland expelled two staff members of the Russian Embassy and denied visa extension to a third person in a decision taken by President Sauli Niinisto and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy.
Russia announced on Tuesday that it has decided to pull out of the Council of the Baltic Sea States
The move came as Russia announced on Tuesday that it has decided to pull out of the Council of the Baltic Sea States.
"The states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union as part of the CBSS have abandoned equal dialogue and principles on which this regional organization was created, and are consistently turning it into an instrument of anti-Russian policy," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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The departure from the CBSS will not affect Russia's presence in the Baltic region and Moscow will continue to work with partners and hold events on key issues of regional development, it added.
The CBSS is an intergovernmental political forum for regional cooperation, consisting of 11 member states and the European Union before Russia's withdrawal.
On March 3, the CBSS decided to suspend Russia from further participation in the council's activities in response to Russia's military operation in Ukraine.
A soldier removes a piece of tree after an abandoned school was shelled the night before, in Sydorove, eastern Ukraine, on May 17, 2022.
(YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP)
Alternative routes for food exports
Meanwhile, Ukraine has agreed to develop alternative routes with European Union countries to supply Ukrainian food products to the global market, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday in a statement.
Ukraine has agreed to develop alternative routes with European Union countries to supply Ukrainian food products to the global market
"Despite the difficult circumstances, Ukraine is making every effort to meet its contractual obligations and supply food to global consumers, particularly through the use of the EU infrastructure," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was quoted as saying.
According to the statement, under the EU's "Solidarity Lanes" action plan, 20 million tons of grain will be transported from Ukraine in less than three months.
Ukraine is also working with the United States, Canada and Britain "to avoid a global food crisis" triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the minister added.
Last week, the European Commission proposed to establish new so-called "Solidarity Lanes" to ensure that Ukraine can export grain to EU countries and also import the goods it needs, from humanitarian aid to animal feed and fertilizers, as Ukraine's ports have been blocked.
Over 260 Ukrainian soldiers evacuated Mariupol's Azovstal
More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers have been evacuated from the Azovstal plant in the embattled city of Mariupol, the government-run news agency Ukrinform reported Tuesday, citing Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar.
Malyar said that 53 seriously wounded soldiers were evacuated from Azovstal to a healthcare facility in Novoazovsk for medical treatment, while 211 other troops were taken to the Olenivka through the humanitarian corridor.
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Later, the Ukrainian soldiers will be exchanged for the captured Russians, Malyar said.
The operation to evacuate the Ukrainian military from the Azovstal steel plant is continuing, the press service of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Facebook.
Mariupol, a key Azov Sea port city in eastern Ukraine, saw one of the worst bouts of violence in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Azovstal plant, which covers an area of about 11 square km, is the holdout of the Ukrainian forces in Mariupol.
